Grantown pupils on crest of a wave

Pupils at Grantown Grammar School are riding on the crest of a wave after demonstrating their green credentials in a nationwide competition.

The team were highly commended in the S4-S6 category of Scotland’s Junior Saltire Awards.

The Grantown pupils and other finalists had to design a wave powered generator, a wave-making machine to work in conjunction with the generator and a model to demonstrate the transmission of power to produce light.

The team built their model and tried it out at Strathclyde University’s test tank.

They received £350 for their school for finishing as runners-up in the contest sponsored by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and backed by the Scottish Government.

Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: "Scotland leads the world in the research and development of marine renewable technologies and is the place to invest in green energy development and deployment.

"Scotland’s £10 million Saltire Prize Challenge is our energy challenge to the world to accelerate the commercial development of wave and tidal energy technology.

"The Junior Saltire Prize Awards show the talent and innovation of Scotland’s young people.

"I’m delighted by the ingenious and inspired solutions the young people have come up with.

"All the entries show a real understanding of the tremendous potential renewable energy has to offer Scotland.

"It’s clear that there is a future generation of talented Scottish renewable energy pioneers in our schools."

SDS Chief Executive Damien Yeates congratulated the Grantown team on what they came up with.

He said: "The Grantown pupils created a design to harness renewable energy and showed tremendous insight, inventiveness and imagination.

"They could see the huge potential that Scotland has in this area and in a practical way, at a very detailed level, created a workable design.

"They should be very proud of their achievement."

The winners of the S4-S6 category were Ullapool High School.

The Scottish Government set up the Saltire Prize in April 2008 - it is a £10 million challenge to accelerate the country’s commercial development of marine energy. Scotland boasts a quarter of Europe’s tidal power and a tenth of its wave power.

The awards were presented at the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) annual Celebration of Engineering and Science at Glasgow Science Centre.